


Family

by hopeandjoy



Series: Natsume Week 2017 [5]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Adoption, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, May 19th: Ten years later, Natsume Week 2017, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 10:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10942902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeandjoy/pseuds/hopeandjoy
Summary: "In a coincidence that Natsume, in retrospect, should have recognized, it began when Tanuma was called regarding the death of one of his cousins and his wife."Spurred by sympathy caused by her similarities to Natsume, Tanuma and Natsume end up fostering Tanuma's orphaned cousin for a month, in hopes of adopting her.But there's no proof for sure that she shares Natsume's vision, and she seems dead set on ignoring him.





	Family

In a coincidence that Natsume, in retrospect, should have recognized, it began when Tanuma was called regarding the death of one of his cousins and his wife.

“Apparently, their house caught on fire,” Tanuma said, having sat down on their old couch. It was, like a lot of their furniture, an old hand-me-down that the Fujiwaras had given Natsume and Tanuma when they graduated college, returned to town, and finally bought a house of their own. “They were trapped inside.”

“That’s awful,” Natsume said. “Were you close to them?”

Tanuma scratched his chin. “We used to play together when we were kids, but I haven’t seen much of him since Dad and I moved to the temple when we were in high school. But Dad thinks I should go to the funeral anyway.”

“When is it?”

“Next Saturday. I guess I might as well, I don’t have work. What about you, Takashi?” Tanuma asked.

“Taki’s roped him into going through her grandfather’s crap,” Nyanko-sensei said. He was sitting on the floor batting through Natsume’s phone. When Natsume had first gotten a smartphone, Nyanko-sensei had poked at it and turned up his nose, saying that human technology was beneath such a grand akayashi as himself, but he had changed his tune over the years in favor of finding new and creative ways of taxing Natsume’s wallet with phone games.

Natsume leveled a glare at Nyanko-sensei’s tone before responding. “Sensei’s right though. And I won’t need the car. But will you be ok alone?”

“It’s not a big deal,” Tanuma said. “Just tell Taki I was sorry to have missed her.” Tanuma then pulled a face. “Besides, you know how my family is.”

“That’s exactly why I’m worried you won’t be ok alone,” Natsume said. Natsume had found himself thoroughly unimpressed with Tanuma’s family as a whole, Tanuma himself and his father excluded. They liked to click their tongues and bemoan the fate of Tanuma’s poor father what with his sickly son who chose to teach Japanese literature at a small town’s high school and live with another man. Natsume hated the way they reminded him of his own family and Tanuma in return hated how Natsume retreated behind a smile when he was around Tanuma’s family. As a result, the two of them largely avoided Tanuma’s extended family in favor of the family they had in town.

“I don’t care what they say about me, Takashi. I just hate how they treat you.”

***

Still, when the day came, the three members of the Natsume-Tanuma household went their separate ways; Tanuma to his cousins’ funeral, Natsume to Taki’s storeroom, and Nyanko-sensei to enjoy some good old fashioned day drinking with the Dog’s Circle. For Natsume, the day was completely normal. He and Taki had been digging deeper and deeper into her storeroom for the past few years, and it was good conversation for the two of them, a good source to guide their studies on akayashi for their books, and a good way for Natsume to try a bit a bit more prepared for what the akayashi world loved to throw at him.

Natsume had finished returning names around the same time he had finished high school. Nyanko-sensei had huffed, said he should have eaten Natsume years ago after all, and the two of them had parted ways. Although Natsume had always known that if he really did manage to return all the names that his grandmother had taken that it would lead to his and Nyanko-sensei’s parting, he had missed Nyanko-sensei greatly. Luckily for him (in more ways than one), Natsume had found himself kidnapped by a group of akayashi who decided that Natsume Reiko would be the prefect bride for their god when Nyanko-sensei suddenly appeared and saved Natsume. After much grumbling about Natsume’s continued uselessness, Nyanko-sensei had admitted that he was bored without the mishaps that surrounded Natsume. He then declared that since Natsume clearly still needed a bodyguard, he supposed he could still fulfill the role as long as Natsume knew that as soon as Nyanko-sensei was bored of him, he would eat him. Natsume had just smiled and said that it sounded like a fair deal.

As for Natsume and Tanuma, they had gotten together towards the end of their first year of high school and had remained together since. They were a private couple, though not a closeted one as everyone they cared about knew about them and they had been blessed to be accepted in return by everyone except for Tanuma’s extended family. Together with Taki, Nishimura, and Kitamoto, they had gone to a college in a nearby city.

 Natsume had struggled with what to do with his life for a long time; he had little interest in most subjects but also had little interest in joining an exorcist community that he had major philosophical divides with, no matter how much natural talent Natsume had. Finally, Taki had approached Natsume with an idea to collect information on akayashi to share with the general population in the form of books on Japanese folklore. Natsume had agreed, and together they had formed a team with Taki turning up leads and doing the writing while Natsume went out and interacted with the akayashi and doing illustrations. Tanuma occasionally joined Natsume on these missions, but largely stayed behind as teaching took up a lot of his time.

The three of them had moved back to the town while Nishimura and Kitamoto stayed in the city. Taki moved back into her family home while Natsume and Tanuma pooled their money to rent a modest home in town.

Natsume wouldn’t call it a quiet life, as akayashi continued to make his life rather loud, but it was a far, far happier life than he had expected he would lead ten years ago when he first moved into the Fujiwaras’ home.

The normality of the day had lured Natsume letting his guard down, even though he knew he should have known better by this point in his life. Still, Natsume knew that something was up as soon as he came home and the “welcome home, Takashi” he got in response from Tanuma sounded distracted. Natsume found him sitting at the kitchen table, still in his suit for the funeral, grading a stack of essays while chewing on the end of a pen and bouncing his leg.

“Kaname?” Natsume asked. “Did something happen at the funeral?”

Tanuma looked deeply conflicted, but set his pen down. His leg still moved and he crossed his arms. He still didn’t speak, but stared at the papers stacked on the table.

“Did your family say something?” Natsume offered.

“Not about us,” Tanuma finally said. He sighed and held his head. “It’s just…” Tanuma rubbed his head and looked at Natsume, seemingly still in a battle with himself about what he was going to say. He dropped his eyes to the table, closed them, and then took a centering breath. “Apparently, my cousins were taking care of a girl before they died. She was at school, so she avoided being caught in the fire but…” Tanuma bit his lip.

“But?” Natsume said.

“But they were all whispering that maybe it was her fault. They say… They say that sometimes she lies about seeing things that other people can’t see, that she breaks things in the house, that she talks to herself all the time. My father said that she’s been passed around the family ever since her parents died a few years ago.”

Natsume couldn’t speak. His bag fell from his hands as his grip loosened.

“Of course, then I got mad and said that maybe she wasn’t a liar, maybe it was just that no one listened to her. That got them muttering about me instead, thankfully,” Tanuma continued. “When I was leaving, she stopped me and said her name was Mayu and thanked me. But when she smiled, it reminded me of…” He trailed off.

Natsume understood the “it reminded me of you when we first met” that went unsaid.

Tanuma balled his fists. “Takashi, I have to do something.”

“Kaname,” Natsume said. “Mayu isn’t me.”

“I know that,” Tanuma said. “But I still think… She’s so young, but everyone already distrusts her. But she still has enough trust to approach a stranger who stood up for her and thank him. I don’t want her to lose that trust.”

“Please tell me you aren’t suggesting what I think you’re suggesting,” Natsume said. _There are so many reasons why we can’t,_ he thought. _We’re both men, we don’t make enough money, we’re only 25, everyone I care about becomes wrapped up in my issues, children_ hate _me._

“Takashi, I’m going to see her again tomorrow. I’ve already asked her current guardian,” Tanuma said.

Natsume’s eyes widened. “Kaname!” he said. Even Natsume was surprised by the uncharacteristic anger that seeped into his voice. “You can’t just decide things that affect both of us!”

“I’m not signing adoption papers, I just wanted to see if she was doing well!”

“You know what you’re doing! You feel bad for her because she reminds you of me, and you want to fix her and you wanted it so bad you assumed I would too!”

“You’ve said you were open to the idea of having kids.”

“With a little more forewarning!”

“I’m going to see her tomorrow, Takashi,” Tanuma said. He looked Natsume right in the eyes. “I want you to come with me, but whether you do or don’t, I am.” Leaving that hanging, he gathered up his papers. “I’ve got to finish this. My students expect these back on Monday.”

“Kaname…!” Natsume started, but Tanuma had already disappeared into his office. Natsume pulled on his hair and collapsed into a kitchen chair. The worst part wasn’t even that Tanuma had dropped this into Natsume’s lap assuming that he would agree, it was that Tanuma was right. Natsume had spent time over the years wondering if it would have been any easier if the Fujiwaras had found out about him earlier and he had been able to spend more of his childhood in the care of people who loved him unconditionally. He then sometimes wondered what it would’ve been like to be raised by someone who understood his world, who he could share every aspect of his life. Even now, although he had told the Fujiwaras of his secret in college and although Tanuma had become his friend because Natsume shared his secret with him, there were experiences that he could never share.

That had not been Natsume’s life, and he was fine with that. He wouldn’t exchange the Fujiwaras for anyone in the world. But maybe he could provide that for someone else.

“Idiot Natsume, are you seriously considering this?”

“Sensei!” Natsume exclaimed as Nyanko-sensei jumped on the table, carrying a bag of chips. “Please tell me you didn’t hear all of that.”

“I live here too, you know,” Nyanko-sensei said as he opened the bag of chips and began consuming them. “This girl might not even be able to see. She might be only able to sense us, like Tanuma.”

“I know that. But still I…” Natsume found himself having a staring match with a coffee ring on the table. “Even if she can’t even sense akayashi at all, even if she really _is_ lying, she still deserves someone.”

Nyanko-sensei scoffed. “Why are you telling me this? You never follow my advice anyway. Your hubby’s the one sulking because you actually yelled at someone other than Matoba or a weakling that was going after you.”

(Natsume had told Nyanko-sensei before that he and Tanuma couldn’t get married and as such Tanuma, in fact, was not his “hubby”, but Nyanko-sensei had scoffed and said that he would call a spade a spade, even if humans got their panties in a twist about such things.)

Still, Natsume couldn’t quite make himself bring it up until Tanuma finally emerged from the office hours later. Natsume handed him a late dinner, an apology, and admitted that he would like to meet Mayu.

Tanuma smiled.

***

Tanuma Mayu, as it turned out, looked a lot like Tanuma Kaname. While her hair was better kempt than the shaggy style Tanuma had during high school, it was the same shade of black as were her eyes. Her eye shape was a little different from her cousin’s, but she had the same taciturn resting expression. At least, Natsume hoped that it was merely a resting expression. She looked to be around eight, and the clothes she wore were clean and in good shape, but they seemed a little large on her.

“Hello, Mayu-chan,” Tanuma said, smiling. “Do you remember me from yesterday?”

Mayu concentrated for a moment before nodding. “You’re my cousin, Kaname,” she said. Mayu, however, was looking at Natsume. He expected her to ask who he was, but she stayed silent.

Tanuma, however, wrapped his arm around Natsume’s shoulders. “This is my partner, Natsume Takashi,” he said. He gave Natsume’s shoulder a squeeze before lowering his arm.

Natsume crouched down to be at eyelevel with Mayu and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Mayu-chan.”

Mayu gave him a short nod and Natsume straightened up, trying not to let his smile falter. He knew that he shouldn’t take it personally; Natsume wasn’t her family, she had probably been hurt before by people who introduced themselves with a smile and good intentions. He remembered clearly what it had been like, but Natsume had still found himself hoping for a flawless introduction. A foolish thought, Natsume had never had a flawless introduction in his life.

Tanuma seemed as if he hadn’t noticed Natsume’s nervousness and continued. “Takashi and I were still in the area and we were wondering if you would like to get lunch with us today.” (This was entirely a lie. Tanuma and Natsume had had to take an hour’s train trip to meet Mayu after they had determined that it would be faster to take the train than drive.)

Mayu hesitated. “…If Auntie says I can…”

“I’ve already asked her,” Tanuma said.

“…I’d like that, then,” Mayu said, finally smiling.

The three of them went to a family restaurant that Tanuma had spotted walking from the station to his aunt’s house. Tanuma told Mayu she could get anything on the menu, regardless of price. Tanuma made small talk that Mayu hesitantly answered. Natsume sat there feeling useless, which wasn’t helped by the fact Mayu kept eyeing him as if searching for something.

Eventually, during a lull in the conversation that Tanuma valiantly kept alive, Natsume saw that Mayu was looking out the window into the street while smiling. Following the line of her gaze, Natsume saw a cat with a tuxedo coloration sleeping in a sunbeam, tail twitching. Natsume felt a smile pull on his face himself.

“Mayu-chan,” he said. Mayu startled and looked at Natsume. “Do you like cats?” Mayu nodded slowly and Natsume felt his smile grow wider. “You know, Kaname and I have a cat. He’s lazy and fat, and everyone tells me how ugly he is. He likes to make a big show to being independent, but he never leaves my side when I’m sick. Secretly, I think he’s a big softy. I think you and he would get along.”

“I hope we would,” Mayu said. But then she looked sad and stared at her half-eaten omurice.

“You could visit and find out,” Tanuma said. “We would love to have you over for however long you like, Mayu-chan.”

Mayu looked up, surprised, and then gave the two men a shy smile. “I would like that,” is all she said in response.

When Natsume and Tanuma finally returned that night, Natsume found himself sitting on their bed while Tanuma showered. He stared at his phone before steeling his resolved and typing in a familiar number.

“Touko-san? …Yes, it’s Takashi. I was wondering… When you and Shigeru-san first took me in, what did you do to prepare? …Well, it sort of, uh, just came up. …Well, it started last week…”

***

When Mayu arrived about a month later, she carried with her one bag and a small box.

“It’s only for a month, for now,” Tanuma had explained to Natsume when he had finally talked his family into letting him take in Mayu. “They probably would’ve leapt at the chance for someone to step up and take her if it were anyone else, but they said for me that they would ask Mayu at the end of the month if she wanted to stay with us.”

Nyanko-sensei had seemed unsurprised by their decision and was more annoyed at the prospect of having to play normal cat again than anything else. He had gotten used to speaking whenever he liked and doing whatever he liked in the house and had only been appeased by Natsume saying he would double his serving at dinner and try and keep Mayu from petting him.

Natsume and Tanuma had cleared out a spare room that had mostly been used to store various things that Natsume had received from akayashi over the years by moving them to the office for now and placing some ofuda made by Tanuma’s dad in what they hoped were inconspicuous, but still effective, places.

Mayu had largely quietly integrated herself into the household, even if Sensei had to put up with the occasional pet. But she still was quiet around Natsume. She was never rude to him; if Natsume talked to her, she would respond. However, she would never initiate any conversation with Natsume herself. Natsume tried not to be hurt by this, as she didn’t engage much with Tanuma either, but it seemed so much more fluid between the two of them.

It didn’t help either that Natsume had worried that she had carried something other than a bag and a box with her when she first arrived. He hadn’t noticed it when he first met her, preoccupied with his own nervousness, but had then. There was a slight feeling around her that was off, but Natsume couldn’t quite put his finger on it. When he thought back on it, the feeling had been there a month ago as well. Natsume asked Nyanko-sensei about it, who then told Natsume that he had felt something as well, but had no idea what it was. Try as they might, neither Natsume nor Nyanko-sensei could see anything unusual about Mayu herself. Tanuma seemed to sense nothing, and as such Natsume had not told him of his suspicions.

The rumors surrounding Mayu seemed to be largely unfounded, though she was a quiet girl. Natsume had never seen her stare at any akayashi, though when he was around she largely stayed in the house, which was protected by Nyanko-sensei’s barrier and Natsume’s reputation. Tanuma was the one who mostly accompanied her outside the house, as she seemed to prefer his company. He had told Natsume that occasionally she seemed to stare at nothing, but since Tanuma couldn’t see akayashi, there was no way to know what she had been looking at.

This changed towards the middle of her stay. Natsume had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and as he was walking back to his bedroom he heard a loud thump from the kitchen followed by the sound of dishes falling and breaking. When Natsume rushed in, he found Mayu curled into a ball, back to the cabinet where the dishes were kept. Surrounding her were shards of broken plates.

“Mayu-chan!” Natsume said. He carefully navigated his way to her side, avoiding the shards with his bare feet. “Are you alright?”

Mayu was shaking. “N-natsume-san?” she asked.

It was at this point that Tanuma arrived in the room, looking as if he had just rolled out of bed. “What happened?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” Mayu said franticly. “It’s my fault. I was running around and I hit the cabinet.” Natsume’s first instinct was to tell her that he hadn’t heard her or anyone else running around and that she should just tell him the truth, that he wouldn’t be mad. But his next thought was, _how many times did I blame myself to avoid saying it was a youkai?_ Still on the floor, Mayu shook harder. “I’m sorry, Kaname-san, Natsume-san,” she said.

“It’s alright, Mayu-chan,” Natsume said, smoothing a hand down her back. “We aren’t mad, we’re just worried you got hurt. We can replace the plates.” As Mayu slowly relaxed, Natsume found himself thinking back to when he was her age. By the time he was her age, he only kept his head down as his current guardians would scold him or worse, never letting a tear fall. It seemed that she wasn’t much different. “Kaname,” he said. “Why don’t you take Mayu back to bed and make sure she’s ok? I’ll start cleaning up in here.”

Tanuma nodded and lifted Mayu out of the sea of broken porcelain before setting her back down at the kitchen door while Natsume busied himself grabbing the broom. It was only when the door to Mayu’s room shut that Nyanko-sensei padded into the kitchen.

“She was lying, you know,” he said.

“I know,” Natsume said. “But I had a feeling that this wasn’t her fault at all, was it, Sensei?”

Nyanko-sensei hummed. “I didn’t get a clear look myself, but I heard the girl arguing quietly with something before she was cut off. I was about to come in and check myself when she hit the cabinet and you came running.” The akayashi’s eyes narrowed. “Whatever it was she was arguing with, it’s already hidden itself well enough in the house that I can’t find it. We’ll need to be vigilant.”

Natsume swept in silence, thinking. “Do we know it’s even really an akayashi?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Neither you nor I can find it, and Kaname hasn’t sensed anything at all. He’s been in perfect health in entire time Mayu’s been here. Do you think that maybe…?”

“Maybe it’s all in her head?” Nyanko-sensei said. “I don’t think so. It was slight, but I did feel something extra when she was arguing. It’s just that by the time you came in, I could only sense her.”

It was at this time that Tanuma reentered the room. “I put her back to sleep,” he told Natsume. “She seems mostly unhurt, but she’ll probably have a bruised back in the morning. It’s a good thing that it’s her summer break so we don’t have to worry about school. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’m almost done here, but if you could get a paper bag for the shards, that would help.”

“Got it,” Tanuma said. He leafed through the cabinets under the sink until he found a paper shopping bag. Natsume could see him frowning in thought. “…there’s something in the house, isn’t there?”

Natsume sighed as he dumped the contents of the dust pan into the bag. “Sensei and I both think so, but we haven’t been able to find evidence of it. Have you been getting headaches recently?”

Tanuma shook his head. “No, but living with you has made me less prone to getting ill from akayashi in general.”

While Tanuma might not be feeling sick, Natsume certainly was. He hated this feeling, that there was something evil in the house that none of them could find but was likely attacking Mayu. How long had it been around while he was unaware? Would it go after Tanuma as well, or did it only go after children?

Why was it that dangerous akayashi find him and disrupt the lives of the people Natsume loves no matter how many years past?

***

After the plate incident, Mayu grew increasingly more and more distant from both Natsume and Tanuma. The combined efforts of Natsume, Tanuma, and Nyanko-sensei had not turned up what had attacked her either. The end of the month and thus Mayu’s time with them was coming up. Natsume had not felt quite this helpless since he was a teenager and he did not enjoy the reminders of more difficult days of his life.

Natsume had raked his brains over and over again to try and figure out how to help Mayu. If he just came out and told her the truth about himself, would she trust Natsume enough to let him help her? Would she even believe him? What if she really couldn’t see?

But all things come to a point eventually, and in this case it happened one evening when Natsume came to Mayu’s bedroom door to call her for dinner. Just as he was about to call to her, Natsume thought that he heard Mayu through the door.

“…Leave…” was all that he could hear. Feeling vaguely guilty about eavesdropping, Natsume slid the door open slightly. Mayu was sitting in the center of the room, her shadow stretching behind her. There was nothing else there that Natsume could see, other than the furniture of room.

That’s when Natsume heard a man’s voice from inside the room. “You’ll leave?” it asked. “But aren’t these humans your family?”

_That must be the akayashi we’ve been looking for_ , Natsume suddenly realized. He hurried to search through the room once again, hoping that he wouldn’t be seen. To his frustration, he couldn’t see anything – but that’s when he noticed that Mayu’s shadow was wavering where it was being cast on the floor even though Mayu herself was sitting still.

“Kaname-san and Natsume-san have nothing to do with me,” Mayu said. She was sitting ramrod straight, and Natsume could see her hands clenched at her sides. “I’ll leave and they won’t care; so won’t you leave them alone?”

“That’s what you said about the last couple who cared for you, but do you know what they said in that fire?” The akayashi slowly rose from out of her shadow, though it looked little different. Although it spoke in a man’s voice, it was still shaped like Mayu. However, Natsume could see wisps of black float off and away from the akayashi’s body, like ash from a fire. It was wearing a mask that Natsume could not clearly see.

At the akayashi’s words, Mayu flinched and covered her ears.

The akayashi continued. “I believe the woman said, ‘at least Mayu isn’t here.’”

“Stop it!” Mayu yelled.

“And then the man nodded, even as he began to pass out-“

“Please!” Mayu cried.

“You wouldn’t have to worry about these humans if you would just give me your body,” the akayashi cooed, slowly approaching Mayu. “It’s because you refused before that this happened, you know.”

At that moment, two things happened. First, the akayashi began to put its hand on Mayu’s shoulder and then Natsume threw the door open and ran in. “Get away from her!” he yelled, and slammed his fist into the akayashi’s face with all the power he could get behind it. The akayashi was thrown back, and its mask cracked in two. One half of the mask fell off, exposing a red eye that looked surprised for a brief moment before it melted into rage. “Mayu-chan, get out of here and get Nyanko-sensei!” Natsume said, but Mayu remained frozen in fear. The akayashi lunged for her, but Natsume grabbed Mayu and curled his body around hers before it could connect. The akayashi hit the opposite wall instead.

“You…!” the akayashi growled, glaring at Natsume. Natsume glared back even as Mayu shook in his arms. The akayashi then stopped, appraising Natsume. “…I had thought the girl would be a powerful host but you… That’s a rare level of ability. And adult humans can get into many more places…” Although Natsume couldn’t see its mouth, he thought that the akayashi was grinning anyway. “You’ll make a much better body for me than she ever would.” With that, it lunged at Natsume, who closed his eyes and curled tighter around Mayu.

As was depressingly common for Natsume, just as he braced for impact, the room was filled with smoke and then he heard the familiar snapping of Nyanko-sensei’s jaws. Natsume finally opened one eye when the hit never arrived. Although Nyanko-sensei’s true form was far too large for the house, much less Mayu’s bedroom, his head was stuck through the door and the akayashi trapped in his jaws. With one more clench of his jaws, the akayashi disappeared, defeated. Natsume glanced down at Mayu, who was staring at Nyanko-sensei’s teeth with terror.

“Jeez, Natsume, you need to stop letting weaklings get the better of you,” Nyanko-sensei said before popping back into his usual form.

It was at this moment that Tanuma burst into the room. “Takashi! Mayu-chan!” he called before collapsing to the floor where they were to hug both of them. He kissed Natsume’s cheek and held him and Mayu tighter. “I was so worried. I grabbed Ponta as soon as I heard yelling.”

“We’re alright,” Natsume said. “I just think Mayu-chan is shaken.” Mayu herself had turned to bury her face in Natsume’s chest and cling to his shirt. Natsume pet her hair gently. “I think we need to talk, though.”

***

They sat down at the kitchen table and Tanuma served dinner, even though no one was hungry. Mayu picked at her vegetables quietly before telling the story of the akayashi. As far back as she could remember, she could see things that other people could not. Her father had never been in the picture at all, and although her mother loved her, she had not believed Mayu either. Her mother had gotten sick and died when Mayu was only five, and from then on she had been passed around the Tanuma extended family. It was a tale that Natsume was all too familiar with.

This particular akayashi had followed her home after she had passed a bonfire while she had been living with Tanuma’s cousins. It had attached to her and told her that if she would not give up her body to it, it would kill her family. Mayu had responded that she had no family and to prove it, she would run away after school and that her cousins wouldn’t care. She didn’t want to be possessed, but she didn’t want to bring danger to the people caring for her even more. The akayashi hadn’t listened, and had started the fire that killed her guardians.

Natsume was not sure how to respond. As a child, his ability to see and attract akayashi had gotten him and people he lived with in a great deal of trouble, but Natsume could not say that anyone had died. It was not Mayu’s fault, but Natsume knew that if an akayashi killed the Fujiwaras or Tanuma or Taki or anyone else Natsume knew, he would blame himself before the akayashi that did it. It was a heavy burden for a child, one that Natsume didn’t really know how to lighten.

There was nothing he could do other than tell the truth, that he could see akayashi as clearly as anything else, that Tanuma knew and could sense them, and that Nyanko-sensei was a friendly akayashi who was Natsume’s bodyguard. Nyanko-sensei had scoffed at being called “friendly” but was otherwise glad to be able to speak freely again and – more importantly – willing to share his theory on how the akayashi passed undetected.

Mayu had been partly possessed, and since Natsume and Nyanko-sensei had not known her before the possession, it went undetected. Natsume’s “foolish move”, as Nyanko-sensei called it, allowed him to kill the akayashi, as it detached itself from Mayu in its attempt to possess Natsume instead.

Although she had remained quiet while Natsume and Nyanko-sensei were speaking, Mayu finally spoke herself. “I’m sorry I brought a dangerous youkai into the house,” she said quietly. She stared at her bowl of rice like it held the answers to everything in life.

“No, Mayu-chan,” Tanuma said. The conviction in his voice made Mayu look up, surprise evident on her face. “We’re sorry that we couldn’t protect you from these things. Adults are supposed to be able to protect kids no matter what.”

“But you did!” Mayu said. “Natsume-san fought the youkai for me and you got the cat to protect me! Even though I’ve been a bother, even though I brought danger, you still helped me.”

Natsume felt his heart clench. “Mayu-chan,” he said. “When a child needs help, they’re never a bother. That’s what family is for.”

Mayu sniffed once, then twice, before tears began streaming down her face. Natsume and Tanuma got up and hugged her as she buried her face in Natsume’s chest.

“Natsume-san,” Mayu said. “When I first met you, I wondered if you were a youkai that had charmed my cousin. You were so pretty, and I could feel so much power, and you were so nice that I couldn’t believe you were human.”

Natsume pet Mayu’s hair gently. “I understand,” he said. “I remember that when I first met Touko-san, I wondered the same thing.”

***

It was the next day when Natsume, Mayu, and Nyanko-sensei went into the backyard. The goal was to try and see how much that Mayu could see. While she had said that she could see youkai, Natsume had no idea how well she really could and had asked Nyanko-sensei to be an example. Sensei had grumbled about not being a guinea pig, but agreed anyway. Tanuma, unfortunately, had to go to work, no matter what dramatic revelations occurred last night, but he had asked Natsume to tell him the results.

“Well?” Nyanko-sensei asked, shaking out his long tail after transforming. “Is my true form not the most glorious thing you have ever seen?”

Mayu stood, eyes shining. “Ponta-sensei!” she said. “Last night you looked kind of scary, but now you’re so fluffy!” She launched herself at Nyanko-sensei, attaching herself to one of his legs.

“F-fluffy?!”

Natsume laughed. “You’re just lucky you’re too big to crush in this form.”

“Ponta-sensei, thank you for saving me last night,” Mayu said, muffled by Sensei’s fur.

The akayashi himself scoffed. “I was saving a certain idiot who decided to go in without any support, fists swinging.”

“Of course, Nyanko-sensei,” Natsume said, affection coloring his voice. It was then that he remembered what they had set out to do. “Mayu-chan, what does Sensei look like to you?”

“Fur.”

Natsume laughed. “Before you stuck your face in him.”

“Like a big, white dog,” Mayu said. Nyanko-sensei grumbled something about not being a dog above her. “He sort of flickers in the edge of my vision though and I can’t see him as well as I can see you when I’m close to you. But from far away, he’s a blurry as everything else.”

Natsume blinked. “Everything else?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Like trees. They’re big blobs of green, right?”

“…How do you feel about glasses, Mayu-chan?” Natsume asked.

Mayu removed her face from Nyanko-sensei’s fur and looked at Natsume. “Aren’t those expensive?”

“It’s not a big deal. And you’ll need them for school when it starts again.”

“But…” Mayu started. “Don’t I need to leave soon? I’m sure you and Kaname-san are busy…”

Natsume walked up to Mayu, smiled, and took her hands in his. “Mayu-chan, Kaname and I want you to live with us as long as you want to. Would you like that?”

Mayu smiled and said quietly, “I would love that, Takashi-san.” Natsume squeezed her hands.

**Author's Note:**

> i want to write more on this and maybe will someday.
> 
> imagine. the dog circle deciding how to think of natsume's daughter. the fujiwaras overjoyed with the granddaughter they never thought they would have. aunt taki's smothering hugs.
> 
> good shit.


End file.
